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The Toronto Maple Leafs introduced Craig Berube as their new head coach at Ford Performance Centre on Tuesday, marking potentially a new direction for the club after eight consecutive years of making the postseason, but only getting to the second round once. GM Brad Treliving and Berube were questioned about the future direction of the club, but for the most part deflected those questions to be answered later in the summer.
Here are the bullet points on the Berube presser:
• Treliving indicated that he spoke to nine people after the dismissal of Sheldon Keefe on May 9.
Various reports have indicated that Todd McLellan and Gerard Gallant were interviewed, but there have been no other names widely circulated. Sportsnet’s Jeff Marek mentioned that possibly Dale Hunter was someone the Leafs were interested in, and it’s very possible that they kicked tires on Joel Quenneville, but in the end the fit between the club and Berube won out.
• Berube asked about assembling his coaching staff, and mentioned one current Leafs assistant (Mike Van Ryn) who he worked with in the past.
It is likely Berube will be given free rein to assemble a group he is comfortable with. There has been some speculation that former NHLer Marc Savard is on the Leafs radar, but he is currently under contract as an assistant in Calgary and we know how difficult it has been for Treliving to deal with his former club in any aspect. Other names mentioned are former head coach and Leafs assistant DJ Smith, and Blues assistant Steve Ott.
• Berube was asked about what attracted him to the job and spoke of the talent of the core group, but he and Treliving would not delve into specifics about what direction the club would go in the offseason.
The Leafs wisely will not go public with what they hope to do this summer in augmenting their roster, because there will be delicate negotiations in terms of signing pending free agents and crafting deals involving one or more of the core group.
Let’s just say this, if the plan was to bring back the core group, the Leafs may have opted to keep Sheldon Keefe. To accentuate the positive of bringing in Berube, Treliving will have to assemble a Berube-type team and that means accountability, size, toughness, defense and goaltending.
• Berube was asked about his coaching influences.
In Philadelphia, he worked with Paul Holmgren, Bobby Clarke, and John Stevens, and has a long history with Ken Hitchcock, going back to junior and his days as an advisor in St. Louis.
• What makes a Berube-type team….how does it play hockey?
“We want to be highly competitive every night and it's all about the team for me. That's one of the things I really focus on. And that's part of building a team. Everybody's important on the team. Everybody's got to be used on the team.” Berube said. “We want to play a north game. We want to play fast. We want to be a heavy team. When I talk about heaviness it's not running guys into the boards and fighting and all that stuff. You still have to be strong on pucks. You got to win puck battles there. Those are priorities for me.”
Toronto Maple Leafs Blogger • 
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